


Our Dying Light

by ShadesofSilver



Series: Undyne Appreciation Week [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Depression, F/F, Mentioned suicide, Papyrus Knows More Than He Lets On, Papyrus Remembers Resets, Post-Undertale Neutral Route, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Betrayed Undyne Ending, Sardonic Humor, This hurt me to write except not really, Undyne-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 05:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11434452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadesofSilver/pseuds/ShadesofSilver
Summary: Undyne had once thought herself unstoppable and powerful.Nowshewas gone, and Undyne is left with her regrets weighing on her shoulders.Day 5 of Undyne Appreciation Week.





	Our Dying Light

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Свет нашей смерти](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13899873) by [Akitai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akitai/pseuds/Akitai)



Undyne felt empty. 

She was curled up on the skeleton brothers’ couch, with a blanket wrapped around her-- thanks, Pap-- and a mug of cold tea lying abandoned on the table. 

She hated cold drinks. If Alphys was still around, maybe she could have built another hot fridge. 

Except that Alphys wasn't still around. Because Alphys was gone, and wouldn't come back. Because Undyne hadn't protected her, Undyne had _failed_ , and now Alphys was dead. And now she would never tell Alphys how she felt, and maybe she should have, because maybe Alphys wouldn't have done what she did and things would be better. 

But it was too late for regrets now, and Undyne was paying in full for everything she had done. 

For a moment, despair and horror crashed over her, so stifling and heavy that it snuffed out the air in her lungs and constricted around her throat. Everything flashed in her mind, everything that had brought the world that she had so carefully built around herself crashing down-- destroyed on the whims of a single human child. A child that Undyne had foolishly trusted, because she was just that: a fool and an idiot. 

The scraps of charred metal and a single, shattered glass canister in the Core-- all that remained of Mettaton. Undyne should have known that Alphys wouldn't have gone on without him. 

The pile of dust at the Barrier, a discarded crown lying nearby. The crown that had been reclaimed by the queen, who had come out of her exile. And Undyne hated her for it, because Toriel hadn't been there for the Underground when they needed her, when their light and hope had fallen to the human child she had tried to defend. 

And finally, the empty syringe and dusty lab coat found in the hidden laboratory beneath Alphys’s lab. The symbol of Undyne’s ultimate failure. 

Undyne’s nails ripped into the scratchy green couch covers, revealing the lumpy stuffing underneath. Some hero she was. Foolish enough to befriend the enemy, too weak and useless to defend three people. 

Her breaths came faster now, shallow and barely delivering any air to her lungs. She had built herself up from nothing, only to crash down harder than ever and she _couldn't breathe_ -

“Undyne?”

The quiet, familiar voice caught her attention. Looking up, she met the empty sockets of her best friend. 

Papyrus gave her a half-hearted smile when she acknowledged him, sitting down next to her. “How are you?” His voice was softer than she had ever heard it, and it felt wrong. 

She was the one worrying Papyrus. 

Stars, she couldn't do anything right. 

Undyne tried to tell him that she was fine, but the words refused to leave. 

Papyrus sighed, giving her a gentle hug. “Don't worry! I know you're missing our friends, but they'll be back from vacation soon enough!” But despite his cheerful words, there was a shadow to his face that threw Undyne off. A sardonic kind of humor in his voice, sharing an inside joke with himself. Then, in a quieter voice, he muttered, “They'll be back soon,” in a kind of assured voice that gave her pause. 

“... I couldn't protect her,” Undyne argued blankly. “I failed them.”

“Maybe when we break the barrier, we can hunt the human down,” Papyrus suggested. “Make them pay for everything.”

Undyne stopped, thinking. Was that what she wanted? To find the murderer and…

No. 

“Revenge won't bring anyone back.”

It was too late for that. 

 

A few days later, Undyne found herself in a field of echo flowers. They grew in an obscure part of Waterfall that could only be accessed by swimming up the river. She and Alphys used to sit among the blossoms, trading wishes and wondering about the world above. 

Now, Undyne sat alone. 

The flowers whispered around her, seeming to taunt her with the noise that still somehow seemed silent. Words that didn't mean anything coming from the mouths of those who couldn't understand their meaning. 

“I'm sorry, Alphys,” they mourned. “I'm sorry, Asgore. I failed you all.”

“I shouldn't have trusted the human.”

“I was so stupid.”

“You were wrong to believe in me.”

Undyne listened to the echoes of her voice, staring at the fake stars in the ceiling. Just a week ago, they might have seen the real things. 

But now, they wouldn't see the stars, the sun, or anything else. Because Undyne had failed.

Suddenly, a different voice reached her ears. An achingly familiar voice, full of wistful regret. 

Undyne shot to her feet, scattering flowers around her as she searched for the source of _her_ voice. 

And then she found it. A single echo flower, separated from the rest of the patch, whispering in that torturing voice. 

A single wish that Undyne had never heard. 

“I wish Undyne could love me back.”

Undyne fell to her knees, cupping the blossom in her hands. 

She hadn't known. 

All along, they could have… 

Ever so gently, she plucked the flower from the ground, tears starting to gather in her eyes as the message repeated. “I wish Undyne could love me back.”

_I do, Alph._

_I do._


End file.
